The Daily Rundown (link removed as the site is no longer there)has this interesting piece of analysis about what people are searching for on Google.

‘ 28% of Google searches are for a “product name”, 9% are for a “brand name” and 5% are searches for a “company name”. “Brand” keywords also have a 8x higher ROI than generic keywords. Not sure if that is for all searches or just consumer-product related searches, but either way it demonstrates the importance of making sure your site shows up on the SERPs for your brand.’

Now that is some useful information that fits pretty well with the anecdotal evidence that I’ve seen over the past year. So if you’re reviewing, previewing or just talking about a product you should be as specific as possible with your keywords – put them in your title, in your image tags, and make sure they’re included numerous times in the body of your post.

SEO – Seven Most Often Asked Questions is a good article with some FAQs that people often ask about Search Engine Optimization complete with answers that should help anyone wanting to optimize their sites for Search Engines. The first FAQ is:

‘Please help! My website has been banned! I cannot find it anywhere in Google or even in AltaVista for that matter. Since 3 years now, I have been following all the great advice you give in your newsletter and on your website. I’ve always been number 3 or 4 on the first SERP of Google, but now I just cannot find my site anywhere! What should I do? ‘

‘Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising models, which compensate networks or their affiliates each time a user clicks on a link, were always considered to be something of an honor system. But new data coming to light this week reveals that PPC fraud is far more significant than many industry observers would have imagined.

According to research released by Web analytics provider Clicklab, fraudulent clicks can account for more than 50 percent of all advertising fees attributable to certain categories.

The data provides a rare public snapshot into a segment of the industry that is controlled and rarely disclosed by companies that manage their own proprietary databases. And while a big player like Google, for example, does not disclose its fraud rates, the problem is significant enough that Google underlined it in its IPO filing with the Securities and Exchanges Commission as a potential risk that investors should worry about.’

Poynter Online is one of the best resources around to help you with your content development. It is actually a tool for those wanting to improve their journalistic skills – but as is often the case – it is easily adaptable to the blogging medium.

Their section on writing is especially useful. Check out their latest tip for example – its on the use of repetition in your writing – I said the use of repetition in your writing (sorry). They write:

‘The repetition of key words, phrases, and story elements creates a rhythm, a pace, a structure, a drumbeat that reinforces the central theme of the work.

Such repetition works in music, in advertising, in humor, in literature, in political speech and rhetoric, in teaching, in homilies, in parental lectures – even in this sentence, where the word ‘in’ was used 10 times.

Writers use repetition as a tool of persuasion, few as skillfully as Michael Gartner, who, in a distinguished and varied journalism career, won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.’

Hmmm – the other bonus of repetition is that if you repeat the right word it is good for your Search Engine Optimization and Google ads.

1. They fan the flames of customer evangelism. Their personal nature helps humanize you and your organization.

2. They function as an instant-feedback mechanism. Most blogs allow readers to respond to your posts or link to them on their own blogs. These features provide almost real-time feedback on ideas and issues that strike a chord, or highlight new or existing problems. A blog can reveal a little problem before it grows into a bigger one.

Get others to write content for you. I’ve often asked other people to write an article, review, reflection or rant for me on a topic that they have a passion or interest in. I don’t pay for content (some people do) but I try to make it worth the writer’s while by giving a link back to their site or by promoting them and encouraging them. I’ve also bought gifts for one or two people who’ve written me significant amounts of content over time.

Some writers will also allow you to co-publish posts. In this way they their post would appear on both their own blog and yours.

Jeremy C. Wright, the blogger who sold his blog, has been getting a bit of criticism for doing so in the last few days and has decided to give his readers The Inside Story on the Sale. It makes for fascinating reading giving an insight into the thought process that went on in his mind in the lead up to the sale, why someone would be willing to pay for his blog and why ‘his blog’.

‘Ultimately I still believe blogs need to fall under a different valuation model because you’re buying more than just the three Big Ones (brand, content and traffic). You’re also buying into a knowledge network, you’re getting a writer and (by definition) you are getting staying power.

All blogs grow as long as the writers keep writing. It’s what naturally happens in a social networking situation. While I’m not big on social networking sites, per say, I do know that the same rules that apply to real world social networking apply to blog social networking: all active nodes will attract more active nodes.’

I don’t know why anyone would criticize Jeremy for selling his blog – I think its something that we’ll see more and more of in future and suspect that the reported $15,000 he got (although he seems to be indicating it wasn’t this much) is just the tip of the iceberg of what blogs will fetch down the track. Good on him!

Use a blogging tool like Ecto. I’m a big user of this tool. It is blogging tool that allows you to post offline (ie I can take my laptop to the cafe where there is no wireless net connection and still blog – to upload later).

It also has a nifty two click ‘blog this’ function that lets you highlight text in an article that you want to quote. With just one key stroke you can import the highlighted text, article title and a link to the article into your blog tool from your browser (in a pre-determined format) to be posted with just another click (some editing is sometimes needed depending upon how the article is formatted). They also have a ‘what you see is what you get’ editing feature and a drag and drop image uploader.

I use the Mac version (version 2 – still in beta) which has a few extra features than the Windows one but I’ve heard the Win version is just as helpful. I know that using Ecto during the Olympic games enabled me to post over 100 posts per day on our Olympics Blog.

Break your longer articles down into smaller bite sized posts on more targeted topics. When I first started blogging I used to write very long rants and reflections on topics. These days I still do occasionally but as I do I always now ask myself – ‘can I break this into a series?’ There are multiple reasons to write a series of posts rather than a long article including:

1. You’re more likely to keep your readers attention with some short sharp bursts of writing than a really long diatribe. I rarely get all the way through reading a long post of someone else unless its compelling reading.2. You might generate some repeat visits to your site if you post on the same topic over a few days telling your reader to come back tomorrow for the next installment.3. You’ll generate more page views this way which is good if you’re running impression based ads on your site and link from one post to the next in the series.4. You individual pages will rank higher in Google usually with a more targeted post than a long one that has many themes. ie a post with one point is more likely to rank well on that point than an article with ten points.5. You will probably get better and more relevant ads from contextual advertising like Google.

Of course this is partly personal preference – a lot of people like the long rant and are frustrated by having to navigate numerous pages of a series. Your choice. Let us know what you think in comments below.